Fires in north and centre continue to ravage northern Portugal
Fires are still blazing in northern Portugal. Between Monday and yesterday, more than 15,000 hectares of forestlands were burnt black, adding to the 14,500 registered between January 1 and July 27, making this year ‘three times worse’ for fire damage than last.
Today there are some bits of ‘good news’: the major fire in Arouca has ‘stabilised’; the fire in Ponte de Lima has entered the ‘resolution phase’. But so much is still left to rising winds and temperatures: much could change. And with more fires starting every day, the maximum danger for the rapid development of forest fires is set to prolong for “at least another week”, writes tabloid Correio da Manhã.
Repeating weather warnings, CM adds that temperatures between Sunday and Monday could beat records in various parts of the country. “There are forecasts that point to temperatures above 45ºC and even close to 50º,” says the paper – adding that the likelihood of ‘tropical nights’, where temperatures do not fall below the low 20ºs will also not help firefighting.
“Yesterday was another day with a lot of work for thousands of operatives involved in fire combat”, CM adds, referring to the breaking out of new fires that “happen every hour in the north and centre” of the country.
The most complicated situations are still around Arouca, where flames spread to Cinfães and Castelo de Paiva, where once again the iconic ‘passadiços’ (stairway high in the hills) has been burnt.
In Ponte da Barca, in Penamacor, firefighters have had to be drafted in from all over the country to help those already on the ground.
The men and women are exhausted already, explain reports (as well as hundreds of kilometers from home). Pressure is building for the government to action the European Civil Protection Mechanism (which would ensure heavy-duty aircraft from other countries), particularly as it always takes a couple of days for ‘reinforcements’ to arrive.
As with so many other ministers for internal administration before her, Portugal’s summer wildfires are ensuring that Maria Lúcia Amaral’s new responsibility is viewed as one to which she may not have been the right choice.
CM concludes that firefighters reject Ms Amaral’s comments earlier this week that the number of firefighting planes combating these blazes is ‘irrelevant’ (due to the orography of the terrain). They stress that firefighting planes and helicopters are “fundamental in all phases of a fire: start, combat and even during dampening down”.
In the meantime, GNR police have announced the detention of five people for arson this week, in Tondela, Ansião, Pombal and Fornos de Algodres. They have also announed the detention of a suspect considered to have started the massive fire in Arouca.
The government has announced that it has requested ‘satellite assistance’ from the EU through the Copernicus system. Portugal’s fires are already visible from space.
Source material: Correio da Manhã/ Lusa
